Perth-based cutlery startup Edible Cutlery has partnered with Australian frozen yoghurt chain Yo-Chi to reduce single-use waste and inspire other businesses to adopt edible cutlery, with the dessert chain selling four weeks’ worth of edible chocolate spoons in just under one week.
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The partnership centres on offering a sweet alternative to wooden dessert spoons, with Edible Cutlery’s edible chocolate spoons currently serving up a storm on the toppings bars of all 63 Yo-Chi venues across Australia.
In fact, the dessert chain has likened the taste of the chocolate spoons to a cross between Milo and chocolate Tiny Teddies.
Yo-Chi is owned by the Allis family and is led by Oliver and Riley Allis, who are the sons of Boost Juice founder Janine Allis.
So far, the partnership has prevented more than 100,000 single-use spoons from ending up in landfill through short trials alone. The spoons have proven popular on social media too, with the initial launch post receiving over a million organic views and more than 16,000 likes.
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Yo-Chi customers’ response “exceeded every expectation”
Born out of a vision to reduce the volume of single-use cutlery being used and discarded every day, Edible Cutlery was founded in December 2022 by Abhinav Nagaraj and Nishanth Ananth to create a true zero-waste alternative to traditional disposable cutlery.
Since launching commercially in late 2023, Edible Cutlery has prevented more than 1.3 million pieces of disposable cutlery from reaching landfill through campaigns, sponsorships, direct sales and pilots with major national and local brands.
Edible Cutlery commenced its first national campaign with Yo-Chi earlier this month, after several months of discussion, product trials and supply chain planning.
“It began as a limited campaign, but the reception from the Yo-Chi community exceeded every expectation,” Nagaraj told SmartCompany.
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The initial run was expected to last four weeks across the venues, but Nagaraj says customers responded so enthusiastically that stores sold out in less than seven days.
“For a sustainability-focused startup like ours, moments like these are deeply validating,” he says.
“It shows that customers are ready for better options and that sustainable products can genuinely enhance the food experience rather than feeling like a compromise.”
The startup’s edible cutlery is made from a blend of wheat, rice and other natural ingredients and flavouring depending on the variant. The chocolate spoons used by Yo-Chi are plant-based and nut-free.
The spoons are designed to hold their structure in frozen desserts, taste great on their own, and fully decompose if not eaten.
Nagaraj says Edible Cutlery and Yo-Chi’s shared mission is to reduce single-use waste and inspire the broader quick service restaurant category to adopt edible cutlery, while also enhancing the customer experience with a fun, edible alternative, demonstrating that sustainability and great flavour can coexist without compromise.
“This partnership is also a beginning for what a circular, low-waste approach can look like at scale across the Australian food and beverage sector,” Nagaraj says.
“Our long-term goal is to divert millions of disposable spoons from landfill while making sustainable choices, the most enjoyable ones for customers.”
Edible Cutlery has a small team of five across operations, product development and marketing.
The startup currently supplies to multiple governments and national and state-based dessert and hospitality brands, with Yo-Chi being its largest client.
The cutlery is also used in correctional facilities where tableware cannot be provided, remote sites without proper waste management systems, and in schools and not-for-profits. When the products near their shelf life, they are turned into animal feed for farms in Western Australia.
In 2024, the startup raised over $123,000 from 84 investors through an equity crowdfunding campaign on the Australian platform Swarmer to help fund its expansion.
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The funds were instrumental in establishing a dedicated sales and marketing team and enhancing the brand’s manufacturing capabilities to meet demand for its products.
Nagaraj says the partnership with Yo-Chi proves sustainability can be exciting, delicious and commercially viable.
“We hope initiatives like this inspire more food brands across Australia to rethink single-use items and embrace innovation,” he says.
“Sustainability works best when brands and customers come together, and we are grateful that Yo-Chi has chosen to lead the way with us.”
Yo-Chi brand director Oliver Allis says the brand’s environmental honesty policy is to make earth-friendly retail the new norm, so it is always looking for innovative sustainable initiatives to bring into their venues.
“When we found Edible Cutlery’s practical, sustainable and genuinely tasty edible spoons, it was the perfect innovation for another step forward in achieving our environmental goals,” Allis says.
“We want to dramatically reduce the amount of single-use spoons used at Yo-Chi, plus inspire other similar businesses to follow our path.”
